


Father Figures

by WhumpTown



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Irondad, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-20
Updated: 2019-06-20
Packaged: 2020-05-15 14:55:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19298038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhumpTown/pseuds/WhumpTown





	Father Figures

With the ease of someone confident and sure, Harley launches his Father’s Day gift across the living room. It hits Tony in the chest and the man grins something special when he meets Harley’s eyes. The two exchange banter like they’ve always done it, not like a son adopted and a man who has an actual child. 

Peter watches like he seems to be doing a lot lately. He finds himself jealous because he can’t do things the way that Harley does. The way the older boy brushes off his own feelings and the way that he acts like hugging Tony is a chore and like it’s the best gift at the same time. The relationship between Tony and Harley is nothing like it could ever be for Peter and Tony and Peter finds himself loathing that. He loathes Harley and he can never admit that out loud.

 _“Don’t look at me like that, old man.”_ Harley rolls his eyes with practiced ease and leans back against the wall. “ _You think I’d really come to this house, on this day, without gifts? Morgan would kick my-_ ” Pepper’s head jerks towards Harley and he reads the message loud and clear,” _**butt.**_ ”

Wordlessly, Tony opens the wrapping paper. He spares Harley a cautious glance when he feels the soft fabric of the sweater. He holds it up, showing the room the back of the dark blue sweater. _“MIT-,”_ Tony reads off the words on the sweater, a huge smile smacked across his face as sees the other word. _“You-Harley- Holy shit, you got into MIT!”_

Harley pushes himself off of the wall, moving to where Tony is with an exaggerated sigh. Tony’s already moving, at half the speed, towards Harley. He throws his arm around Harley and pulls him tight against his chest. There are tears in Tony’s eyes and Harley rubs his back, he tilts his head and whispers something in Tony’s ear. It makes the older man chuckle but the tears still fall. 

Tony pulls away and he wipes his eyes. He sniffles, dragging the back of his hand under his nose, and smiles at the rest of them. He lifts the sweater up from where he’d dropped it on the ground and turns it around. In large white letters across the blue sweater, it says ‘MIT Dad’. “My kid’s going to MIT!” Tony can’t help but pull Harley into another hug, pressing a kiss to his head of dirty blond curls. 

Harley blushes and he shakes his head as if it will clear his cheeks of the cherry red. He doesn’t bother trying to escape the grip that Tony has on him, there is no way that Harley can shake it. Even with one arm, Tony’s fatherly need to embarrass knows unsurmountable strengths. Harley isn’t strong enough to break free but he wouldn’t want to. 

The scene makes Peter much more unsure of himself. He tucks his own gift behind a pillow on the bench in the hall. Sparing the scene in the living room a second glance before excusing himself quickly to the bathroom. He’s finding Happy’s number in his phone when there’s a knock. Followed by a distinctly childish voice asking,” ‘eter? Daddy says we all have to go outside with him. He wants to-to… I don’t know.”

Peter opens the door, knowing that his fate has been sealed and that he’s got no chance of getting out of this now. He expects to find just Morgan outside the door. He’s looking down when he opens the doors but his eyes end up finding Tony instead, Morgan’s running away as fast as her little legs can carry her. 

It’s hard to tell exactly what it is that the older man is expressing with his slightly confused face but Peter knows he’s not content.“Morgan told me you snuck off,” Tony’s leaning against the hallway’s door. His arms crossed against his chest as he tilts his head and waits for what Peter has to say. When Peter opens his mouth, pulls his top lip into his mouth, and shuts it Tony isn’t very surprised. His usually loud, clingy kid has been silent all day. “Walk with me.”

Tony is half-way down the hall before Peter snaps back into reality and follows. It takes just a few steps to catch up with Tony’s broken gait. The older man remains at a relaxed pace when Peter comes to walk by his side. 

Years of physical therapy are the only reason Tony’s on his feet. After the snap, the one that saved the world, the loss of his right arm nearly killed him. Not only was there a brutal infection rampaging through his system but he was missing his dominant arm on top of it. Weeks passed before he was mentally functioning enough to be debilitated by his mangled right leg. He built braces, supports, and even crutches. 

Pepper made him go to Physical Therapy anyway.

“Talk to me.” 

The therapy was awful. He could hardly remain awake in the afternoons after the appointments, he felt like he was a failure as a man, as a father. Suddenly, Harley stopped calling so frequently, Peter stopped dropping by, and Morgan stopped asking him to read her stories before bed. Not until after the therapy was over did he notice the way that they had worked better ways of seeing him according to his therapy.

Harley started calling in the morning, in the hours just before the therapy sessions. On occasion, when the morning calls are not enough, he calls at eight when Tony had recuperated enough to answer the phone. 

Peter stopped dropping by as much but all together. He became more active at night, stopping by the garage after his duty as Spider-Man. Sure, he didn’t stay as long but he was there to help Tony back up the stairs. Tony always leaned too much into the help but Peter never minded it.

Morgan napped with him. Too young to really understand the gravity of the situation, she took comfort in just laying with her father in the vast expanse of her parent’s bed. It was better than reading before bedtime and, most of the time, better than juice pops. 

It was slow and awful. He got there. He got _here_.

“About what?” Peter doesn’t mind that as they walk Tony’s broken gait causes him to bump against Peter. It creates a rhythmic rocking that soothes Peter’s nerves. Enough that he can find it in himself to look Tony in the eye. “About Spider-Man? Not much is-”

“No,” Tony puts his left arm around Peter, tugging him against his side. “I want to know about Pete. I want to know what’s going on in that big old head of yours.” Tony knocks softly against Peter’s head. The hall ends and Peter finds himself standing at the sliding glass door that separated the house from the patio. 

Tony removes his arm and slides the door open,” after you.” Tony waits for Peter to walk through before following behind him. He settles into one of the many chairs on the patio,” why'd you run off?" He really settles into the chair, legs stretched out in front of him and torso pushed down far into the chair. He doesn’t look at Peter, knows that the eye contact will distract him and, frankly, to mask his own emotions. 

Peter shifts on his feet, moving back and forth before resigning to the chair that Tony motions for him to sit down in. Immediately, he crosses his arms and keeps his head down. He can’t spare the chance of making eye-contact with Tony, that’s fair. “I didn’t.” 

Tony makes a noise in the back of his throat, a ‘humph’ that sounds skeptical. Peter can see Tony shake his head and then look down at his crossed arms. “Then what do you call what you did?” Tony clears his throat,” did someone say something? Harley? He’s pretty rough sometimes. What happened? Why’d you leave?”

Peter shakes his head and uncrosses his arms to lace his fingers together. He sniffles, not meaning too, and glances at Tony. He doesn’t want to give him any leeway in making him think that there is something wrong. “I-I-” Peter scratches his fingers, shaking his head. 

“Don’t say you didn’t,” Tony warns, his tone sharp enough to make Peter jump. “You did, I saw you.” The statement makes Peter blush, hard. It’s true but Peter doesn’t want to admit to it nor does he want to talk about it. “So, cough it up. What’s wrong, kid?”

Peter tries to keep it down. He doesn’t want to talk but somehow it just-

“N-Nothing, Mr. Stark.” Peter glances over at Tony and he catches the man’s eyes. They gut him like a fish. “I’m sorry, sir. I d-didn’t-” hot tears boil in his eyes and in an attempt to blink them away they slid heavily down his face. A testimony to his guilt. “Today is-is supposed to be about you so don’t worry about me. Go hang out with Morgan and Harley. You don’t have to worry about me.”

Tony scoffs. It’s so to the point that Peter holds his breath. Anxiety stirring in his stomach and getting an iron grip around his middle. It nearly suffocates him but as Tony lets out a rough chuckle Peter’s breath rips from his mouth. “I don’t have to worry about you?” Tony chuckles again,” Pete, all I’ve done since the day that I found those shitty youtube videos is worry.”

Tony sits up in his chair, body turning around to face Peter. He rubs his face, in that way that he does when he’s too stressed and too tired. On any other occasion, Peter would think it meant something bad. It would ordinarily mean something bad. This time, Peter thinks it just means Tony cares. Just like always, too much. 

“I worry, kiddo.” It’s a soft admission, followed with soft brown eyes looking at him that rip his chest apart and no softly. “So, no, I can’t go-go,” Tony makes an open gesture with his hand, a lost for the word gesture. “I can’t go hang out with Harley and Morgan, not in good conscious. Not when you need me, not when my _kid_ needs me.”

Peter startles. He just sits there and it takes a moment for his brain to keep up with what’s happening because when he looks up again Tony’s crouched down in front of him. “I-I-I-”

“Shh, now.” Tony pulls Peter against him. The thin cotton of Tony’s shirt leaves nothing to the imagination. Peter can feel the thin frame of his mentor, muscle built up from Physical Therapy and bones that stick out too much because he always forgets to eat. The ace bandage expertly wrapped around his right shoulder to prevent agitation when he wears his prosthetic, which he does so rarely. “Listen, if I let this go if I let you walk away then what does today matter? I’m only a father because of you.”

Peter grunts, shaking his head. Tony puts his hand on the back of Peter’s neck,” yeah, kid. Harley, Morgan, you. If it weren’t for all three of you, I… Peter, look at me.” Tony cups Peter’s cheek in his hand, looking him in the eyes,” if it weren’t for the three of you I wouldn’t be here. I wouldn’t be alive and it may seem far fetched and silly but it’s true.” The usual ease and the playful edge of Tony’s is gone. Tony knows that Peter needs to hear what he means to Tony and luckily, Peter knows he means it. 

Peter tries to blink away the tears but the sob still breaks from his mouth. Tony’s arm keeps him safely nestled and Peter takes refuge in it. “I-I-” Peter clenches the material of Tony’s shirt in his fist. “I love you, dad.”

Tony chuckles and rubs Peter’s back,” I love you too, kiddo.” Then, almost an afterthought,” does this mean that I can thank you for the gift you stuffed behind the pillow in the hall?”

Peter blushes and hides his face in Tony’s shoulder.

 _‘It’s Not A Dad Bod It’s A Father-Figure’_ It was a dumb t-shirt he thought was funny when he saw in on Instagram and then he found himself getting it. It’s not that hard when Mr. Stark had given him a credit card. One of those things he’d been given early on in their partnership.

“It’s funny, kid.” Tony pats Peter’s shoulder and it gives Peter the comfort to pull away from the hug and wipes the tears from his eyes. “I'm gonna wear it to your graduation." It's a threat, odd, but Peter finds it comforting. 

The sliding glass door opens,” hey, Mechanic? Get Peter Pansy Pants in here and eat. Pepper’s gonna flip her S-H-I-T if you two don’t get in here soon.” Harley shuts the door and that’s it, he walks away.

Tony stands back up, moving back to lean on the banister as his legs shake from the strain. He smiles at Peter, a mischievous glint in his eyes,” so, you good? I’m hungry and Happy promised hamburgers so…”

Peter stands up and nods.

“Good,” Tony brushes his hands off on his pants. He sniffles and straightens, “come on muskrat. Harley hasn’t eaten all day and if I have to fight that kid I don’t know if I’ll get my hamburger.”

Peter lets Tony tug him against his side, allowing the older man to just lead the way. 

“Are you good now, Pete?” Tony leans down close enough that his question is only heard for him and Tony. Peter nods and he’s pretty sure he isn’t lying. Even if he is, now he’s better. “Good, go get your hamburger.”

Tony hangs back, observing Peter as he slides in between Morgan and Harley. It eases Tony’s nerves almost as much as the feeling of Pepper’s hand slipping around his chest as comes to stand behind him. Pepper presses a kiss to the back of his neck,” Peter okay now?”

Tony nods,” I think so.”

Pepper hums and rubs her thumb over his skin,” I’m proud of you. You handled that well.”

Tony grunts, turning his head towards her,” yeah? I thought I handled that well too.”

Pepper places her head against his back, gently swaying her hips as they stand. He lifts his arm up and tangles his fingers in hers. He tilts his head back and they just remain tangled in one another for a moment. Comfortable in the peace they created, that they chose.


End file.
